Abstract
This article is an attempt, in the context of the Eurozone crisis that has shaken Europe since 2008, to explore and deconstruct two pieces of conventional wisdom on French leadership in Europe and the world. The stereotypical image of a country in decline and denial, out of touch with today’s globalised world, is reproduced so often in the Anglo-American media and even in scholarly discourse, that is has become a self-evident truism. The article examines this truism in two different perspectives: there is, on the one hand, the axiom that France has lost influence in Europe and that the balance of power has shifted inexorably to Germany and, on the other hand, the axiom that Europe does not matter in the global ‘power shift’ and that, as part of Europe, France does not count any more either. In questioning the origins and validity of these axioms, the authors argue that a strong perception bias persists and is constantly perpetuated even though reality has changed. Not only has France rather successfully adapted to globalisation in both political and economic terms, but it has also found new ways and discourses about its role as Germany’s partner in leadership in the European Union. The paper goes on to show that both France and the EU retain and use significant levers for action in three dimensions of power—coercion, agenda-setting and attraction. It concludes that going into 2012, France remains an active and important actor, both in the EU and on the global scene. It is present and influential in major international institutions, effectively builds international coalitions and floats important ideas on reforming laissez-faire capitalism.
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Notes
Nicolas Sarkozy, Speech in Toulon, 1st December 2011, http://www.elysee.fr/president/les-actualites/discours/2011/discours-du-president-de-la-republique-a-toulon.12553.html
Nicolas Sarkozy, Speech in Toulon, 1st December 2011.
Schmidt is still co-editor of Die Zeit, Germany’s opinion-leading weekly newspaper.
The original text of the speech is available under http://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article2115273/Die-Rede-von-Helmut-Schmidt-beim-SPD-Parteitag.html. An English translation can be found on the private blog http://eurozoneremarks.blogspot.com/2011/12/speech-helmut-schmidt-spd-at-party.html
The shadowy "Frankfurt Group"—named after an emergency meeting of eight people at the city's opera house in October 2011—gives testimony to the intergovernmental turn European politics is currently taking. The members of this group are reportedly Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde, Nicolas Sarkozy, Mario Draghi, José Manuel Barroso, Jean-Claude Juncker, Herman van Rompuy and Olli Rehn—with external powerhouses like US President Barack Obama occasionally permitted to attend. See Carroll (2011)
Epitomised by the empty-chair crisis de Gaulle provoked, or to a lesser extent, by the 2005 ‘Non’ vote in the referendum on the constitutional treaty.
Outcome of the Berlin Summit on 22 Feb 2009. Press release of German government, www.bundesregierung.de. Proposal for a Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, European Commission.
Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, “Pour une Europe qui protège”, Le Journal du Dimanche, 31 May 2009.
Sam Jones, “Revealed: The Geithner letter to EU’s Michel Barnier”, Financial Times, 11 March 2010. Cited in Davies 2010: 166.
Transparence International (France), “Crise Financière et Paradis Fiscaux”, 24 October 2008, on www.diploweb.com.
This IMS reform issue is currently on the back-burner but likely to reappear as and when the euro crisis recedes.
Elitsa Vucheva, “Laissez-faire capitalism is finished”, says France, EUObserver, 26 September 2008, http://euobserver.com on Davies 2010: 9.
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Wong, R., Sonntag, A. The relativity of decline: a reappraisal of French leadership and influence in a time of global crisis. Asia Eur J 9, 179–196 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-012-0310-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-012-0310-x